Aroma Leads to ‘Little Gaza’

Amid the telltale cloud of white smoke, they take turns puffing on elaborate glass-and-metal water pipes.

The aroma from the traditional Arabic pipe--called shisha--anoints the sidewalk along Katella Avenue with the subtle flavor of mango, strawberry, banana, cherry, cantaloupe or grape.

On any given night, Arabs from throughout Orange County gather to partake in this ancient practice. Nowhere is their presence more evident than at the Fishawi Cafe on Katella Avenue, gateway to a two-mile stretch of Brookhurst Street in Anaheim so packed with Arabic restaurants, markets, billboards and signs that locals call it “Little Gaza.”

An estimated 60,000 Arab Americans call Orange County their home--three times the number of a decade ago, and easily the largest and most visible concentration in the Western United States, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Anaheim-based Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“They come for the good weather, good economy and good potential for growth,” Ayloush explained. “The Southern California climate is very similar to that of most Arab countries--warm and close to the ocean and mountains. They move to Orange County for the same reason other people do: to stay away from the large crowds and get their space without sacrificing job opportunities and good schools.”

The influx of Middle Easterners began about a decade ago and has produced a thriving community. When they came, they set up shops, opened markets and built a mosque on nearby Brookhurst Street.

“It’s still growing,” Ayloush said. “It’s snowballing--one store attracts another, and those two stores attract two more.”

As a result, many Arabic visitors also come to this part of Katella, one of Orange County’s oldest and most diverse streets. “I’ll tell you one thing,” said Sam Beseiso, 24, an American-born Palestinian living in Utah who was taking a break from a business trip to visit the Fishawi Cafe. “There are no hangouts like this back in Salt Lake City.”

Among the cultural manifestations the newcomers brought with them is shisha--sometimes called argille--the ornately decorated water pipe around which Arab families and friends traditionally socialize.

Smokers inhale through a long, mouthpiece-tipped tube. The pipes, fueled by small bits of glowing charcoal placed over a cup containing the aromatic tobacco, filter and cool the resulting smoke by forcing it to bubble through a container of water at the pipe’s bottom end.

Aficionados say the water-filtered smoke is almost nicotine-free. And many Arab families, Ayloush said, keep at least one pipe at home to share with their relatives and friends.

“It’s purely a social thing,” he said, “and very common. It facilitates conversation.”

That was the case on a recent Thursday night at the cafe, where customers gathered to drink strong Turkish coffee, play chess or backgammon, listen to Arabic music and chat with friends in their native tongue.

One of a handful of Orange County establishments providing Arab water pipes, the cafe--which charges $5 for a pipeful that can last up to two hours--opened three years ago on Katella Avenue, which is also one of the county’s busiest streets.

In addition to abutting Little Gaza, owner Ragab Almshey said, Katella is a good location for the cafe because of its proximity to Disneyland.

“Arab [tourists] like to go to Disneyland,” he said. “They see us on the way and stop.”

Tony Servedes, a 31-year-old Iranian immigrant living in Anaheim, said he stops by regularly for the peace of mind that smoking shisha provides.

“I’m an old-fashioned kind of guy, so I stick with apple,” he said. “What it does for you is get you to sit down, relax and think. It’s like reading a good book.”

A man who identified himself only as Mohammad said he comes mainly for the camaraderie.

“It’s like a cocktail,” the 30-year-old Jordanian immigrant said. “I like the gathering, I like seeing the guys. I saw my father smoke this all his life.”

Four young men sitting outside the cafe reveal that they are, in fact, distant cousins engaged in an informal family reunion.

It can be difficult to find a seat here on Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s a Middle Eastern atmosphere,” said Beseiso, the visitor from Utah. “Here we can talk the native language and hear the native music. We want to hang on to our culture.”